henrikson



June 21, 1955 B. w. HENRIKSON TABLET ARM FOR A FOLDING CHAIR 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 23, 1954 INVENTOR m, i w W ATTORNEY June 21, 1955 B. W. HENRIKSON TABLET ARM FOR A FOLDING CHAIR 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 23, 1954 INVENTOR .Bror m flen rilisou WITNESS ll BY MTM I ATTORNEY United States Patent 2,711,210 TABLET FOR AFOLDING CHAIR Bror W. Henrikson, Grand Rapids, -Mich., assignor to American Seating-Coniparry,' Grand Rapids, Mich, a corporation of New Jersey Application August 23,. 1954, senamo. 451,425

The present invention relates "to folding chairs and more particularly to afolding chair'having a tablet arm.

The primary objects ofsthe-invention areto provide a tablet arm chair which is folda-ble into a compact unit for storage when not ,in-use; to provide such atablet arm folding chair from which-the tablet arm and its supporting element maybe removed whenit-is desired touse the chair without the tablet arm;.to;provide such a tablet arm chair in which the tablet-arm overhangs thechair seatforeonvenience in'use, ;sa.id tab.let arm also being swingable upwardly'to one side of the chair-to permit easy access to and frornathe chair seat -in.inst-ances where such chairs are placed closely together in rows; and in general to provide such a folding tablet arm chair which is simple but sturdy ,in :construction, reasonably economical in manufacture and-attractive-in appearance.

An illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein:

Figure 'l is aside'elevational view of the new tablet arm folding chair in'its-unfoldedpo'sition of use;

Figure 2 is aside elevationalview ofthe chair in its folded position for storage;

Figure 3 is a rear and side perspective view of the chair in unfolded position with the tablet arm thereof in position for use;

Figure 4 is a front and side perspective view of the chair in unfolded position with the tablet arm thereof swung upwardly;

Figure 5 is a front and side perspective view of the chair in folded position for storage;

Figure 6 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevational view of parts of the chair showing a connection between the tablet arm support and a front leg of the chair; and

Figure 7 is a sectional view of the same taken on line 7-7 of Figure 6.

Referring now in detail to these drawings the chair there shown has an inverted U-shaped tubular metal front frame 10 providing spaced front legs 11, 12 connected at their upper ends by a bight 13 which serves as a support for a back rest 14. A chair seat 15 is provided with seat arms 16, 17 secured to its underside on opposite sides of the seat, and these seat arms 16, 17 are pivotally connected at points 18, 19 intermediate the front and rear of the seat to the front legs 11, 12 of the chair. The rear legs 20, 21 for the chair are also of tubular metal and are pivotally connected to the front legs 11, 12 above the seat 15 by means of metal straps 22, 23 secured to the front legs, to which straps the rear legs are pivotally connected at 24, 25. Links 26, 27 are pivotally connected at 28, 29 to the rear legs 20, 21 below the seat and are pivotally connected at 30, 31 to the seats arms 16, 17. The rear legs 20, 21 are connected by a lower strut 32 and an upper strut 33, said upper strut 33 additionally serving as a stop against which abut the rear ends of the seats arms 16, 17 to limit the unfolding movement of the chair. The lower portions of the front legs are also desirably connected by means of a strut 34.

A tablet arm support 35 is secured to one of the front 2,71 1,210 .PaftentedJnne 21., 1.9.55

, 2 legs of the .chainpreferably the rightfr'ontileg 1 1; This support is desirably made ofrnetal rod .or tubin gland is bent to V-shaped formrto iprovidemalower arm v3,6

pivoted to the front chair-leg 11 below the seatllevel and an upper arm 37 pivoted to theffront chair leg 11 above the seat level, so that when the chair isinlfolde'd position, the tablet arm support is swingable. inwardly to a position paralleling the front frame 10 as .seen .in Figures 2 and 5. When the support35 is swung outwardly as seen in Figures 1, v3 and 4, Yth'eupper ,armv. 37 thereof extends forwardly from the front chairyleg. 11 above the seat level. i

The tablet arm.38 is pivotally mounted on the upper arm 37 of the tablet arm"isuppo rt by means offl'spaced bearing straps.39, 4.0 secured tothe underside-of tablet arm andeextending around the upper supportpa fm 37. The tablet .armisithus swingable, when the chairis in open or unfolded position, toa lowered position; for use as seen inFigures 1 and3 in which position thetablet arm rests on a substantially horizontal extension 31a securedas by welding to the upper SlPPQI't arm 37,, or to a raised position as seen in Figure 4 in which latter position of the tablet arm ready ingress to and egress from the chair seat is provided.

it will be seen that when the tablet arm 38 is in its upwardly swung position seen intEigure 4,the chair can readily be foldedby liftingthe ehair's'eat .15 thus drawing the rear legs 20, 21 together withthe frontlegsll, 1'2, whereupon the tablet arm '38and its support 35 may together be swung inwardly .to folded position adjacent andparallel to the frontf-rame 10, as seeninFigures .2 and 5. Whenitis desired to again unfold the chair for use, the tablet arm 38 and its support35 are swungoutwar-dly so as to again occupy their-positions seenin Figure 4:, whereupon the seat may .beqloweredQthusspread:

, ing the front and rear legs to their use positions asfalso seen in FigureA. 1 Thereis desirably provided a ,latch member 41 secured to the lower arm 36 of the tablet arm support as by means of welding and provided with a slot 42 in which engages the side flange 43 of'the chair seat to insure stability to the structure when the chair is in use.

Provision is made for detaching the tablet arm and its support from the chair in instances when it is desired to use the chair without a tablet arm. As best illustrated in Figures 5 and 6, each .of the connections between the supports arms 36 and 37 and the front chair leg 11 comprises a pair of clamping members 44, 45 which abut at their forward ends and which engage opposite sides of the front leg 11 at their rearward ends to clamp the leg 11 V therebetween. A bolt 46 and nut 47 are provided as shown for drawing the clamping members together to securely grip the front leg 11. Clamping member 44 has inwardly extending upper and lower flanges 48, 49 and clamping member 45 has similar inwardly extending upper and lower flanges 50, 51, said flanges 48, 49, 50 and 51 being provided with registering apertures through which pass the pivot pin 52 by means of which the adjacent lower or upper support arm 36 or 37 is pivotally secured to the front leg 11. It will be seen that the tablet arm 38 and its support 35, together with the upper and lower clamping devices, may readily be detached from the chair by loosening the nuts 47 on bolts 46 thus releasing the clamps from the front chair leg 11.

It will thus be seen that the invention provides a novel numerous details thereof may be altered or omitted with-.

out departing from the spirit of the invention as the same is defined by the following claims.

I claim:

1. A tablet arm device for a folding chair having a front frame providing spaced front legs for the chair, a chair seat pivotally mounted on and between said front legs, and rear legs for the chair pivotally connected to the front legs, said device comprising: a tablet arm support pivotally connectedvto one of said front legs for swinging movement inwardly to a position paralleling the front frame and outwardly to a position wherein its upper portion extendstforwardly from said front leg above the seat level,and a tablet arm pivotally mounted on said upper portion of the tablet arm support.

,2. A tablet arm device for a folding chair having a front frame providing spaced front legs for the chair, a chair seat pivotally mounted on and between said front legs, and rear legs for the chair pivotally connected to the front legs, said device comprising: a tablet arm support pivotally connected to one of said front legs for swinging movements inwardly to a position paralleling the front frame and outwardly to a position wherein its upper portion extends forwardly from said front leg above the seat level, and a tablet arm pivotally mounted on said upper portion of the tablet arm support for swinging movements, when the chair is unfolded, about a forwardly-rearwardly extending axis to a lowered position of use extending forwardly and above the chair seat and to a raised position at one side of the chair, in which latter position the tablet arm is swingable, when the chair is folded, inwardly and outwardly with the tablet arm support.

3. A tablet arm device for a folding chair having a front frame providing spaced front legs for the chair, a chair, seat pivotally mounted on and between said ,front legs, and rear legs for the chair pivotally connected to the front legs, said device comprising: a tablet arm support comprising a V-shaped member having one arm thereof pivoted to a front leg of the chair below the seat level and the other arm thereof pixoted to said front chair leg above the seat level whereby the tablet arm support is swingable inwardly to a position paralleling the front frame and outwardly to a position in which the supports upper arm extends forwardly from said front leg above the seat level, and a tablet arm pivotally mounted on said upper arm of the tablet arm support,

4. A tablet arm device for a folding chair having a front frame providing spaced front legs for the chair, a chair able inwardly to a position paralleling the front frame. and outwardly to a position in which the supports upperarm extends forwardly from said front leg above the seat level, and a tablet arm pivotally mounted on the upper arm of the tablet arm support for swinging movements, when the chair is unfolded, about said upper arm to a lowered position of use extending forwardly and above the chair seat and to a raised position at one side of the chair, in which latter positionthe tablet arm is swingable, when the chair isfolded, inwardly and'outwardly with the tablet arm support.

5. A tablet arm device for a folding chair having a front frame providing spaced front legs for the chair, a chair seat pivotally mounted on and between said front legs, and rear legs for the chair pivotally connected to the front legs, said device comprising: a tablet arm support detachably pivotally connected to one of said front legs for swinging movements inwardly to a position paralleling the front frame and outwardly to a position wherein its upper portion extends forwardly from said front legs above the seat level, and a tablet arm pivotally mounted on said upper portion of the tablet arm support.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,452,182 Clawson Oct. 25, 1948 2,620,019 Merrill et a1 Dec. 2,1952 2,664,943 Clarin d Jan. 5, 1954 r 2,676,645 Supita Apr. 27, 1954 Fischer et al. Mar. 6, 1928 i 

